It’s a cute term, but it ain’t cute once you know the real deal!
Have you ever browsed through a date’s profile only to be completely baffled by their ambiguous “finance” job description or why they seem to never miss a photo opportunity with a celebrity? Well, you might have come across a blowfish.
Blowfishing is slightly different from catfishing. While catfishing is the practice of misrepresenting oneself online with a false appearance in order to deceive others, blowfishing adopts a more subdued strategy. Blowfishing is the far more common practice of exaggerating or ‘blowing up’ one’s existence to make it appear bigger than it actually is. Basically, one lies about one’s lifestyle, assets, interests, abilities, or habits to establish a connection. Although it doesn’t really involve lying about looks, identity or what one owns, it can still leave severe effects.
But Why Though?
Just as people practice catfishing for a variety of motives, such as more power, money, and other things, the same goes for blowfishing. You can see the motivation behind wanting to project an attractive lifestyle in the cutthroat world of modern dating, by appearing more desirable to potential partners. If the person using the deceit doesn’t give you any reason to suspect them, it may be difficult to figure them out because they may go to considerable measures to maintain the ruse.
Sometimes, we think that it isn’t that bad. But that’s perhaps why we convince ourselves that the other things won’t matter once people get to know us. However, you really need to give it a thought. Do you really want to live with the thought that someone might have simply swiped right because they believed your bank teller position to be a “big job in finance”? We don’t think so. Although there aren’t many ways to detect a blowfish, we’ve got three telltale signs to help you figure them out:
You Feel Uneasy
We know, we know!
Truth is, we can’t always trust ourselves. However, there are occasions when your instinct is all you have in the dating scene. Embrace it. If you ever get caught with a blowfish, trust your instincts, and LEAVE.
Things Don’t Make Sense
They tell you stuff like: they’ve got a job that earns them thousands of ringgit, or that they have contacts with prominent people. But for whatever reason, you seem to feel the math doesn’t add up. They will casually lie in your face as if it were nothing. The best part is, they won’t feel or react in any way, which makes you think they might be telling the truth. But if you really give it a thorough thought, you’ll realise none of it makes sense. Our suggestion: call this person out on their contradictions.
Twisted Truths
Yes, gaslighting is the oldest mental trick in the book. It feels like receiving mental knee kicks in the back. Your girlfriend makes you feel unsteady and causes you to doubt your perception of reality. Have you ever been in a situation where you were accused of remembering something incorrectly? That is the case. It’s unusual even if you don’t mishear things or give false information in your relationships, friendships, or employment. If it seems like you are playing the game “name that fact” without an end in sight, leave!
